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Thomas
Thomas W. Billington '''(formerly known as '''102, occasionally known as Thomas the Tank Engine) is the London North Western Railway's Number One and works on Ffarquhar-Harwick Branch Line since 1924 alongside Percy, Toby, Daisy, Mavis, Rachel, Roger, Ryan and his two faithful coaches, Annie & Clarabel. Biography 102 was built somewhere around October 1913, and then he worked on the London Brighton South Coast Railway (LBSCR) until he was purchased by the Irish Railway in May 1924. Except he and 108 were mixed up and 102 was sent to the Island of Sodor by mistake. When Thomas got there, he was greeted with great pleasure, but Sir Topham Hatt I didn't want to keep 102 at first due to angerness from the Irish Railway, but soon decided to keep him after being told that 108 was sort of lazy. 102 was soon sent to the Works to be repainted and soon gained the name "Thomas" after a boy called Thomas Porter ran into the works to greet his dad. Thomas went through a series of events: being pulled by Gordon and his express, leaving his train behind, helping Henry to the nearest station after breaking down, being pushed by the Troublesome Trucks, and rescuing James from an accident. Soon, after James's accident, Thomas was given his own branch line, plus two coaches named Annie & Clarabel. Thomas enjoyed running his branch line, and kept it running smoothly through the rest of the 1920s, and well into the 1930s. Thomas was at Henry Stewarts's speech when the Sodor Governor was assasinated. Soon, the Second World War came, but Thomas still kept his branch line running until late April 1945, when 5-year-old Christopher Awdry came to the Island of Sodor. Thomas took care of Christopher until the Nazis came to take him away. Thomas, alongside Edward and George, traveled to Berlin to rescue him. Then they came across Kate, whom they befriended. Then they thought of a plan and soon, Thomas, Edward, George and Christopher made it out of the Nazis HQ alive. Thomas was depressed due to Kate's sacrifise but soon was cheered up by Edward and George. A few hours later, they made it back to Sodor. After the Second World War ended, Thomas returned to his duties, but not his normal self. He was still pissed out on Kate's death. But after a talk with Mickey, he got over it. But in 1948, he once left his guard behind by accident and while he was waiting for the guard, Thomas met Terence and teased him for his caterpillar tracks. On another occasion he accidentally swallowed a fish in his tank when he took on water from the lake, causing him tremendous pain. Soon, he was called in to take over the Big Engines's duties after Sir Topham Hatt I shut them in the sheds as a punishment. But during the Winter Season, he became stuck in the snow and had to be pulled out by Terence. Thomas later met Bertie in 1949 and was challenged to a race to Ffarquhar. Although he was behind for most of the race, Thomas managed to overtake Bertie and won. Thomas continued running his branch line by himself until 1951, when he had an encounter with Constable Quinton, the constable of the branch line at the time. At this, Toby was bought. Thomas was jealous because Toby was taking away attention, but they soon became friends after Toby dealt with the policeman. During the early Spring of 1952, Thomas was warned by Mrs Kyndley of a landside, and to thank her, he and Toby brought presents for her. The winter of 1952 was also quite eventful, for all the NWR engines gave her a Christmas party. Two years later, Sir Topham Hatt I retired and Sir Topham Hatt II took over. After a compliment by his driver went to his smokebox in 1960, Thomas became conceited, believing that he no longer needed his driver to control him. The next morning, Thomas found himself moving on his own after a careless cleaner had meddled with his controls, but he was unable to stop and crashed into the Ffarquhar stationmaster's house. Thomas was sent to the Works to be mended. When Thomas returned to the branch line, he began looking after the passenger trains with Daisy while Percy was at the Works being mended from the predicament accident. But soon after Daisy was sentenced to her shed, Thomas had a race with a diesel named Roland but then his saftey valve bursted so Thomas had to be sent to the works. Soon, Thomas helped out with the extension of Knapford Sheds. In 1984, Sir Topham Hatt II retired, and now Sir Topham Hatt III had power of the railway. In 1990, Thomas was invited by the National Railway Museum to represent the North Western Railway in the Great Railway Show, an event showcasing many famous engines across the UK. Thomas was excited, but the journey to York was shaky; he damaged his front buffer beam when he hit a crossing gate and the lorry he was travelling on was booked for parking illegally. Thomas was repaired when he arrived at the Museum and befriended Green Arrow while he was being mended, though he continued to have bad luck when he ran into a bag thrown onto the line and frightened a small child. Fortunately, Thomas managed to make up for his bad luck when, as he was double-heading a railtour with Green Arrow, he noticed the line up ahead was damaged and stopped the train. As a reward for his actions, Thomas was made an honorary member of the National Railway Museum and received a commemorative plaque. Afterwards, Thomas left York and returned to Sodor. In the summer of 1991, Thomas had an accident with a dent on the rails, and soon derailed into the swamps. In 1995, during the Golden Jubilee of the Railway Series, Thomas derailed on his branch line after rabbits had been undermining the track. He was rescued and managed to attend the Jubilee at Tidmouth or be it after being delayed at Knapford Junction after a points and signal failure. Soon, Sir Topham Hatt III retired, and Sir Topham Hatt IV now had control. In 2007, during which Toby was having to handle the overflow of quarry workers, Thomas discovered an old carriage named Victoria, who he asked to be restored and help Toby. He brought her up from the Junction to Ffarquhar to meet Toby, after having to bypass Terence's toppled cart that had nearly blocked the line. In 2011, Thomas had been crossing the river bridge near Elsbridge, when he was forced to stop due to an injured swan laying on the rails. He escorted it to Ffarquhar where it was taken to a vet and after recovery, Thomas brought it back to Elsbridge where the swan was freed. Later, he attended Wilbert Awdry's centenary. Soon, he celebrated his 100th birthday. In 2015, Thomas was careless while pushing his coaches so they derailed. Sir Topham Hatt IV was cross so he took Thomas off his branch line to work on the "new branch line", and put Ryan, the new engine, in his place. Thomas was careless, and passed the danger signs but then the ground took off and Thomas fell down. While he was down there, he found a pirate ship, HMS Samsday. Sir Topham Hatt IV scolded Thomas, but praised Rocky later for "finding" the ship. Later, Thomas teamed up with a former sailor named Sailor John and a rail-boat named Skiff to find treasure. Ever since Ryan came to the constructing site, Thomas hated Ryan, but later, he pushed some dynamite trucks into a cavehole to save Ryan's life, but he got scolded for it. Thomas then confronted the two villains, but then Thomas stopped the two from escaping with the treasure, ending up in the sea. Sir Topham Hatt later told Thomas the next day the famous words: "''My engines are much more important to me than any treasure. And you, Thomas, are my number one.” ''Later, Thomas realised that the "new branch line" was actually an extension of Ffarquhar Branch Line, and by then, Thomas and Ryan became friends, so Thomas greeted Ryan with pleasure. Later in 2016, Thomas had to deliver Gordon's saftey valve to the Great Railway Show of 2016, but was too late. Thomas later took Percy's place in the Shunting Challenge and won for Sodor. Personality Thomas is a cheeky engine, who used to play tricks on the other engines. But on another hand, he is also adventurous, and always looking for a bit of adventure. Technical Details Thomas is based on the LB&SCR Class E2 0-6-0T, particularly the second batch of locomotives built with extended side-tanks. These engines were built by Brighton Works between 1913-1916 to replace the aging Stroudley E1 class and were primarily used for heavy shunting and short-distance goods trains in the London area and on the south coast. During their final working years, the E2 class worked as shunting engines at Southampton Docks alongside the USATC S100 Tank Engines (Rosie's basis), until they were replaced by the BR Class 07 diesel shunters (Salty's basis). All of the E2s were scrapped, with none surviving into preservation. In 2016, word has been going around about a new one being built, with a blue livery and wheel splashers like Thomas himself, though this is debatable. Livery Thomas is painted in NWR sky blue with red lining. His number is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red lining and the lining around his cab windows is yellow, although he was originally painted black with red stripes. Voice actors * George Ignatchenko (always will voice him) Trivia/Facts * He was the first character to have a number in the Railway Series. According to Brian Sibley, the number one was the easiest one to draw. * Thomas was originally made as a LNER Class J50, but Thomas was illustrated as an E2 class shunter engine. * Some of Thomas's personality is based off 'DuckTales 2017' 's of Scrooge McDuck. * Thomas didn't know about his brother, Timothy, because he was built during the time when Timothy left for Sodor.